Larry Shenk, Vice President of Alumni Relations, shares his notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of baseball.

Doc Delivers

Doc delivered on the mound, Ryan with the long ball and the Phillies posted their 44th road victory, most in the majors, on Friday night. Inning five straight against two playoff bound teams, the Phillies have outscored the Braves/Brewers, 30-10.

Uncharacteristically Doc walked three, a season high. In true form, he allowed four hits and struck out nine to reach 200 strikeouts for the fourth straight year and fifth time in his career.

He joins Cliff in the 200 strikeout club, only the third time in Phillies history they’ve had a pair in that club. Others were Jim Bunning (268) and Chris Short (237) in 1965 and Doc (219) and Cole (211) a year ago.

Charlie’s #2
The win was Charlie’s 637th, passing Harry Wright for second place on the Phillies all-time list. Gene Mauch’s 645 wins are the most and Charlie is fast approaching the record.

Who is Harry Wright?

Thanks to the Phillies Encyclopedia, here’s an answer to that question:

A native of Sheffield, England, Wright managed the first professionl baseball team, the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1869. That team didn’t lose a game for a year and a-half. It traveled 12,000 miles with nine men.

After the Phillies disastrous first season (17-81 in 1883), owner Al Reach, hired Wright as the manager, proclaiming “we need a real manager.” From 1870 through 1881, Wright managed the Boston Red Stockings and won six pennants in 11 seasons.

Wright managed the Phils from 1884 through 1893, although he missed 65 games during the 1890 season because of temporary blindness. Three others managed the Phillies until he returned for the final 55 games of the season.

While he never won a pennant, the Phillies finished in the first division nine times in 10 seasons. His final numbers: 636-566, a .530 percentage. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

Wright died at age 60 and is buried in the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

One more note….Wright brought flannel uniforms into the game and was the first one to cut away the pant legs, producing knickers. “What I had in mind,” he said, “was fewer clothes. You couldn’t play ball well with inches of flannel flapping around your ankles. This was a special misfortune to the infielders who were likely to gather in their trouser bottoms when they reached for the ball.”

Today’s uniform style must have Wright turning over in his grave.

Down On The Farm
**Lehigh Valley OF Brandon Moss drove in all the runs with a double, home run and walk-off, 10th-innning single as the IronPigs won, 3-2, to take a 2-0 lead over Pawtucket in the best-of-5 series. RH Justin DeFratus, who recorded a save in the series opening win, was the winner on Friday night, striking out five of the six batters he faced. Scene shifts to Pawtucket for the next two games.

**Reading cruised, 11-2, at New Hampshire to tie the best-of-5 series at 1-1. CF Derrick Mitchell drove in five runs with a single, double and triple. Win went to RH J. C. Ramirez, 0 runs, 1 hit, 6 innings. Game #3 is Saturday night in Reading. Tickets are available.

I was “watching” the game on the Phillies website via Gameday and for one of Doc’s walks, it definitely should have been a strikeout. According to Gameday, those “balls” were well within the strikezone. The HP ump was not very accurate that night.

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